The American Spectator

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McCain Migraine

1.16.08 @ 12:01AM

GO HOME, SENATOR
Re: John Samples's McCain vs. Madison:

Every time I come to ponder John McCain for any public office for which I may vote I remember one element of his career which seems to have been neatly forgotten: Keating 5. End of consideration.
-- Reid Bogie
Waterbury, Connecticut

Thank you for continuing to expose John McCain for the left leaner that he is; with the media in full swoon over him it is hard to find much being said about what this guy actually believes. People are much too willing to forget McCain-Feingold and how blatantly unconstitutional it is, and are much too willing to let it go by the boards.

For me, that one piece of legislation says all that needs to be said about McCain: he cannot be trusted to uphold an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States. If a man is willing to ignore the plain meaning of the Constitution as it regards free speech, what other rights does he think should be subjugated in order to have a "clean" government? It is obvious to me that John McCain loves the American government more than he loves the Constitution. Such a man is clearly unfit to lead this nation.
-- Eric Edwards
Walnut Cove, North Carolina

My goodness, Mr. Samples has just made that 08 migraine really start to throb. Has it really come down to this, McCain v. the Constitution? What is it about McCain that Republicans don't quite get? Or rather, to be fair, that Independents and Democrats, his true coalition, don't get? After all, McCain doesn't hide his intentions all that well, except perhaps, his deceptive and mean spirited ploys with the Immigration bill, and his not-so-comical intellectual gyrations on behalf of the "Gang of 14."

As Mr. Antle pointed out Monday, McCain himself has said it all about the foibles of Washington pols; "Washington changed us." Indeed it has. I believe psychologists have an explanation for this desire by one of the Keating Five to punish the rest of America for his failings; it's called projection.

So let me see if I have this right; another Clinton presidency (oh, it really hurts now) will simply appoint liberal jurists to re- write the Constitution, with an international flair, while a McCain presidency (*�%$#!!!) will simply cut and paste over the existing document, as has McCain-Feingold. Of course, both will do this with America's best interest in mind; after all, we all need to be protected from ourselves, or am I projecting here?
-- A. DiPentima

Unfortunately, Mr. Samples is correct. John McCain either has no understanding of the U.S. Constitution or doesn't give a fig about it. I suspect he doesn't understand it. But what else would one expect from someone who was at the bottom of his class at Annapolis? Or who was dumb enough to be bamboozled by Charles Keating? Unfortunately, one would have to say that Jane Fonda is more supportive of the Constitution than is John McCain. I for one would never vote for McCain under any circumstances. I appreciate his military service, but certainly not his political service, which has been highly detrimental to the nation. He in fact should not only cease and desist in his presidential campaign, he should retire his Senate seat, and leave with dignity. I am one American who has long since tired of John McCain's service to his nation, particularly as he wishes to dismantle the Constitution. Remember, Teddy Roosevelt is his idol, and Teddy Roosevelt was a Progressive, who left the Republican Party, after the Republican Party (Taft, et.al.) "scotched" his attempts to vitiate the U.S. Constitution. Say it out loud, John: You are neither a Conservative nor a Republican, and have no use for the Constitution.
-- Kent J. Lyon
College Station, Texas

The most important paragraph in Mr. Samples's column is this:

"But as Welch points out, McCain sees distrust of government as 'a ceiling on our greatness' and contrary to fostering a proper pride in our institutions. Freedom of speech should give way to collective goodness."

Senator McCain wants us, the great unwashed, to trust in government to provide for the greater good, at the expense of individualism and our natural rights. He thinks that America is great because of government, not because of its citizens. On a philosophical basis, this puts him in the exact same company as Sens. Clinton and Obama. It makes me shudder to think that he could become a presidential nominee.
-- Owen H. Carneal, Jr.
Yorktown, Virginia

Okay, it's time to speak the unspeakable, to mention the unmentionable: the more I explore MCain's record in politics the more it strikes me that he got slapped in the head once too often during his involuntary stay at the Hanoi Hilton.

I honor and thank John McCain for his service to my country. I respect his courage under the duress as a POW. I don't accept that his military past should give him a pass now. He already received one pass as one of the Keating 5. I laugh aloud each time John McCain brazenly mentions Jack Abramoff in debate because he knows many Americans have short memories.

Then I recall John Glenn, another American who parlayed his hero status into a senatorial career and ended up a political hack, and was re-elected. And I worry about McCain's ability to convince himself that limiting speech for Americans was right. Because, as he keeps telling me, he knows better what's best.
-- Wolf Terner
Fair Lawn, New Jersey

HAPPY ACCIDENT
Re: Brooke M. Goldstein's Mark Steyn is Not Alone:

Letter to the Editor

topics:
Taxes, Foreign Policy, John McCain, Business, Federal Budget, Social Security, Medicaid, Religion, Islam, Abortion, Environment, Books, Constitution, Law, Supreme Court, Military, NATO, Socialism, Fascism, Conservatism, Immigration, Energy, Medicare